The Economic Cost Of The Opioid Crisis07:33

Copy the code below to embed the WBUR audio player on your site

In this June 17, 2016 file photo, Erika Marble visits the gravesite of Edward Martin III, her fiancé and father of her two children, in Littleton, N.H. The 28-year old died Nov. 30, 2014, from an overdose of the opioid fentanyl. (Jim Cole/AP)This article is more than 1 year old.

New research out Wednesday puts a dollar value on how much the opioid epidemic is costing the Massachusetts economy.

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation estimates the state loses more than $2.5 billion a year in business productivity, and an additional $5.9 billion to people who couldn't work because of opioid addiction.

The study found that almost 33,000 people could not work in the last seven years because of addiction — which is a major problem when the job market is tight.